Waco seeks national monument recognition for Mammoth Site

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Kye R. Lee/Staff Photographer

Fifth graders from West Intermediate School in West, Texas, toured the Waco Mammoth Site last week. A House bill could give the site monument designation but would entail no federal funding and only limited National Park Service oversight.

WASHINGTON — Waco leaders are hoping that a small, brown arrowhead designating a site as a national monument will soon adorn one of Texas’ paleontological treasures — and that the site will be like no other in the system.

For two consecutive congressional sessions, Texas representatives have proposed designating the Waco Mammoth Site as a national monument, and community leaders hope that this year the measure will clear legislative hurdles.

But unlike most legislation to create national monuments and parks, the bill includes no federal funding. Instead, the monument would receive financial support from the city of Waco, Baylor University and the Waco Mammoth Foundation, making it a rarity in the National Park System.

Rep. Bill Flores, the Bryan Republican who originated the House legislation, said the model could become the new standard for funding and developing national parks and monuments.

“It became a win-win opportunity to be careful with our scarce financial resources and give Waco the designation the site deserves,” Flores said. “It’s a remarkable opportunity for the Waco community to be on the map and encourage additional tourism.”

Discovered in 1978 by two men hunting for arrowheads, the Waco Mammoth Site features the nation’s only group of fossilized young Columbian mammoths — not to be confused with their woolly cousins.

The mammoths are believed to have drowned in rising floodwaters of the Bosque River. They were sealed in a tomb of sediment, only to be discovered 68,000 years later. So far, 24 of the beasts have been unearthed, and more discoveries are possible on the 109-acre site.

A 5-acre section opened to the public in 2009 and has been under the cooperative supervision of city and university officials, who have worked to create a visitor center and an enclosure to protect the fossils. Once removed, the bones are transferred to Baylor’s Mayborn Museum for storage and study.

“To me, it’s like the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval,” Ellie Caston, director of the Mayborn Museum, said of the national monument designation. “If you’re good enough to be part of that system, you’ve done it well and done it correctly.”

But some say the idea of a national monument operated using private funds with limited government oversight runs contrary to the mission of the National Park Service.

“Part of the park service’s obligation is to protect and preserve,” said Kristen Brengel, director of legislation and policy for the National Parks Conservation Association. “In order to do that, they need to administer it on the ground with rangers and interpretative staff. In terms of regular administration, there is a lot that goes into these places.”

The Flores legislation includes a clause that would strip the national monument designation should the interior secretary determine that federal funds are required to operate or maintain the site. The vagueness of the clause leaves the bill open to interpretation that could derail the designation, even if it were to be signed by the president.

“The intent of the legislation is not to create a tripwire but to give them the monument designation for the best interest of the American people and the community,” Flores said.

He suggested that a management fee or reimbursement formula could be used to ensure that no federal dollars were spent, while still allowing park service oversight. He sees the lack of government involvement as a potential plus for the site.

“I’ve been to several national parks and several national monuments,” Flores said, “and the quality of the sites and the oversight has not been as good as the Mammoth Site’s present form.”

Despite that, Flores and others say, the prestige of a national monument designation would help attract visitors.

Flores said the absence of federal dollars improves the bill’s chances of passage.

“It would have passed last session, but it got caught up in the political squabbling,” said Larry Groth, Waco’s city manager. “The real issue is money, and that was the holdup last session.”

Legislation sponsored last session by former Rep. Chet Edwards earned the endorsement of the National Park Service and passed the House but died in the Senate. The park service declined to comment on the pending legislation.

The Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the 2009 legislation estimated that the site would require an initial $8 million investment plus $1 million a year for the first three years and about $400,000 a year thereafter. The Waco Mammoth Foundation has about $3.5 million, and Groth said the city would contribute $100,000 annually.

Ultimately, Caston and Groth said, the designation would attract national and international visitors through the conduit of the national park system while preserving a part of local and national history.

“The reason we want it to be designated is the recognition,” Groth said. “Having that little arrowhead out there is pretty significant.”

AT A GLANCE: MAMMOTH SITE

Discovered in 1978, the Waco Mammoth Site is a joint project of the city of Waco and Baylor University’s Mayborn Museum.

A suspended walkway above the dig site gives visitors an aerial view of the fossils below.

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